Squatters take control - What started with a scheme for building sewers has grown into an all-embracing philosophy. Fred Pearce visited Karachi to see how local effort and basic technology succeeded where governments have failed

THE scent of flowers was overpowering: not a whiff of sewage anywhere. With its lining of shrubs and climbing plants, the alley looked clean and tidy and just visible nearby stood a large TV satellite dish. Indoors, men pored over engineering plans and women worked at looms and sewing machines, making shopping bags and saris for markets from Lahore to London. Could this really be Orangi, the infamous squatter settlement in Karachi that made the news last year as the scene of political riots and dozens of shootings by drugs mafias?

Next week's UN conference in Istanbul will look closely at what to do about "megacities" and the collapse of effective urban government. High on the agenda are the squatter settlements where governments leave hundreds of millions of poor people to fend for themselves, often without the most basic services. The conference will hear that the urban population of developing ...

To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

To continue reading this article, log in or subscribe to New Scientist

App + web

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$25.99 - Save 65%

12 issues for $2.17 per issue

with continuous service

Print + web

Print

Web

$28.99 - Save 61%

12 issues for $2.42 per issue

with continuous service

Print + app + web

Print

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$39.99 - Save 73%

12 issues for $3.33 per issue

with continuous service

Web

Web only

$49.99

30 day web pass

Prices may vary according to delivery country and associated local taxes.